LONDON (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of women in poor
countries die each year during pregnancy or childbirth from
largely avoidable causes, British lawmakers said on Sunday.

The International Development Committee said there had been
little progress in reducing maternal deaths in developing
countries in the last 20 years and it criticised a lack of
political will to improve women's health.

One in seven women in Niger dies in childbirth, compared to
one in 8,200 in Britain, it said.

Of the Millennium Development Goals set by the United
Nations in 2000, there had been least progress on the target of
reducing maternal mortality by 75 percent, the committee said.

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On current trends, the goal will not be met by the 2015
deadline.

"A key factor in this collective failure has been
insufficient political will to drive actions to improve the
health of women, both at the international and national
levels," it said in a report to coincide with Mothers' Day in
Britain.

Studies estimated maternal deaths worldwide in 2005 at
536,000 although the true figure could be as high as 872,000,
because of a tendency to under-report such deaths and poor
data, said committee chairman Malcolm Bruce, an opposition
Liberal Democrat.

"It has ... been estimated that for each woman who dies, 30
further women will become disabled, injured or ill owing to
pregnancy, so it is reasonable to assume that millions of women
suffer in some way due to childbirth," he said.

Only two in five women in sub-Saharan Africa deliver their
babies with the help of skilled medical staff, the report said.

Addressing a huge shortage of midwives worldwide and
increasing the availability of emergency obstetric care to all
women must remain the main focus of the British government's
overseas aid department, the committee recommended.

Increasing access to basic drugs and equipment including
family planning supplies was vital, as was tackling gender
inequalities that prevented women gaining access to health
care.